Enzo Maresca says he is unsure of the severity of Tosin Adarabioyo’s injury.
The Chelsea manager on Friday declared Adarabioyo as the ideal replacement for Levi Colwill, who has been ruled out for the majority of the season with a serious knee injury.
But Adarabioyo missed out on a place in the Chelsea squad for their opening-day goalless draw with Crystal Palace after being unable to finish training the day before.
In his place, teenager Josh Acheampong came into the side and lined up alongside Trevoh Chalobah in a defence that kept a clean sheet against the FA Cup winners at Stamford Bridge.
“He had a physical problem,” Maresca said, when asked to give detail on Adarabioyo’s injury after the match.
“We don’t know for how long [he will be out]. Wes [Wesley Fofana] was on the bench, but was just on the bench [in order] to be with us. The plan was not to get any minutes.
“And now, hopefully, for the next one, we can start to use Wes for some minutes.”
Asked how concerned he is by the injury to Adarabioyo, Maresca snapped: “I already spoke about that.”
Maresca handed 18-year-old winger Estevao his competitive debut as a 54th-minute substitute, and the Brazilian showed flashes of why he is so highly rated.
“He was very good,” Maresca said of the teenager. “He showed personality. He's already showing that in the training sessions. For sure, no doubt, slowly, slowly he will be a very important player for this club.”
